4 JUNE 2018 SENIOR RESEARCHER, HEAD OF CENTRE

UFFE JØRGENSENAARHUSUNIVERSITY

AARHUS UNIVERSITY CENTRE FOR CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY

WHAT ARE THE AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ARGUMENTS FOR INTRODUCING GREEN BIOREFINING?

CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY INTEGRATESSUSTAINABILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY

UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

WE ARE WELL AHEAD ON RECYCLING OF BIO-RESOURCES IN DENMARK – BUT THERE IS STILL A LOT TO DO

INSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET 15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKER

UFFE JØRGENSEN

MAY-JUNE 2017DEAN

NIELS CHR. NIELSEN

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

AARHUS UNIVERSITYAU

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AARHUS UNIVERSITY THEMATICAL CENTRES

New strategical interdisciplinary thematical centres within global challenge areas:

Integrated Materials

Research

Digitization, big data,

and data analytics

iFoodCircular Bioeconomy iClimateWater

Technology

Integrated Life

Science

MAY-JUNE 2017DEAN

NIELS CHR. NIELSEN

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

AARHUS UNIVERSITYAU

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UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

KEY CBIO MISSION IS TO COUPLE UNIQUE RESEARCH PLATFORMS WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY

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UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

BRAND NEW CIRCULAR PRODUCT CHAINS NEED TO BEUNDERSTOOD, OPTIMIZED AND SYSTEM EVALUATED

Nutrient

lossesNutrient

uptake

Nutrient

recycling

15 MARCH 2018

UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

A NEW LAND-BASED PRODUCT CHAIN MAY HELP REDUCE N-LOSSES SIGNIFICANTLY

Nutrient

losses

Nutrient

uptake

Nutrient

recycling

UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

NEW CBIO POSITIONS TO ADDRESS KNOWLEDGE GAPS AND TO INCREASE INTERDISCIPLINARY COOPERATION

• Professor in Sustainable Dairy Production (co-finansed by Arla) – at ANIS

• Tenure-track in soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions (co-financed by AGRO)

• Senior Scientist Lorie Hamelin (INRA, France) to write paper on DK biogas potential – AGRO

• PhD on nutrient resource management with mussels to meet environmental and economic

objectives (co-finansed by Mumipro) – at ENVS

• PhD on Food Waste Based Biorefineries (co-finansed by DECISIVE) – at ENVS

• PhD on bioeconomy as a driver for peatland rewetting and mitigation of greenhouse gas

emissions (co-financed by Era-Net PeatWise) – at AGRO

• PhD on extraction and evaluation of protein from macro-algae – at FOOD

• PhD on blue mussels, seaweed and insects for sustainable animal production – at ANIS

CBIO CO-ARRANGES THE DANISH BIOECONOMYCONFERENCE – NEXT 27/9 2018

UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

CBIO IS ORGANISED AROUND 7 RESEARCH PILLARS

What are the agricultural and environmental

arguments for introducing green biorefining?

BIORESOURCE

European agriculture faces numerous challenges

Productivity

• Biomass for food, feed, material and energy

• Stagnating yields

• Large import of protein feed

Environment

• High nutrient leaching (Nitrate and Water Framework Directives)

• High pesticide use

• Agriculture must contribute to EU climate goals (EU climate policy)

The answer may be sustainable intensification – more with less (losses)

We can produce more by using the whole growing

season? Case: spring barley in Denmark

We can pollute less by tightening the N cycle

HeadlineOptimized Crop Rotation• Energy maize + Winter rye (direct sowing end October)• Energy beets• Hemp + Triticale• Triticale early harvest (10-15 July) + undersown grass clover (two cuts: autumn and spring)

Permanent crops• Continuous triticale with straw removal (reference)• Continuous fodder maize (reference)• Miscanthus (M. x giganteus)• Miscanthus (M. sacchariflorus – Sibirian)• Tall fescue x perennial ryegrass (Festulolium)

• Reed canary grass (phalaris arundinacea)• Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea)• Cocksfoot grass (Dactylis glomerata)• Grass clover SLU – (Bamse + Hykor + Donata + Lucerne (Alfalfa), Medicago sativa CRENO +

Alsike clover, T. hybridum, FRIDA + White clover, T. repens, HEBE + Eastern galega, Galega orientalis, GALE)

• Grass clover DLF - (DLF TRIFOLIUM mixture36 (10% white clover+10% festulolium+40% tall fescue+

15% ryegrass+10% timoté+10% meadow fescue+5% red fescue)

Bare soil plots• Mechanical weed control + herbicides• Herbicides only

Conventional crop rotation• Cereal crop rotation (2013: spring barley, 2014: winter barley, 2015: winter rape, 2016: winter wheat)

Production systems designed to cover the whole year investigated

High variation in total biomass yield

Manevski et al., 2017

Cumulated leaching is up to six times higher in

annual crops than in grasses

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Nitrate leaching 1.2 m

(accumulated, 1 Apr 2013-1 Apr 2014)

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* Not calculated yet

It is possible to increase yield AND decrease

nitrate leaching

Wheat175 kg N/ha

Barley130 kg N/ha

Grass cloverunfertilized

Festulolium425 kg N/ha

Beets130 kg N/ha

Jørgensen & Lærke, 2016

Fulfilment of the Water Framework Directive by changing approx. 9% of

agricultural land into perennial crops was shown by scenario analysis

Other measurements

• Solar radiation interception in green leaves

• Soil carbon after the first 5 years

• Nitrous oxide emissions to improve GHG balance calculation

• Weed development

• Pest & Diseases

• Pesticide use

• Economy ………..

So, what to do with all that grass?

Total crude protein yield in Foulum biomassSolati et al., 2018

Implementation of a radical new crop production paradigm is conditional to development of green biorefineries

Harvest

Pretreatm.

Storage

Transport

Bio-refinery

FeedFood F

High-value components

Fibres

C6

C5

Lignin

Residual

Oil

ColoursFlavors Medicin Other chemicals

Syngas

Reactor

Soil conditioner

Fertiliser Rest

BiogasSyngas

Fuels

ChemicalsMaterials

Crops are separated, protein precipitated and animals fed

to determine feeding value in current projects

BioValue (www.biovalue.dk)

Some conclusions

• Grasses are more efficient than annual crops in intercepting solar

radiation & produce high yield

• Nitrate losses can be kept low even at high fertiliser input in grasses

• High protein content in grass & legumes may be extracted for monogastric

animals

• Produce an easily digestible fibre fraction for polygastric animals

• Side-streams can deliver energy in biogas

• Grass and clover production increase soil carbon

• Pesticide use is very low in grass production

Farmers are eager to produce grass – if

there is a market

UFFE JØRGENSEN

15 MARCH 2018 SENIORFORSKERINSTITUT FOR AGROØKOLOGI

AARHUSUNIVERSITET

WE CAN RECYCLE ALL RESOURCES ON MARS -WHY NOT DO IT ON EARTH INSTEAD – MUCH CHEAPER!

JONATHAN D. TRENT, NASA & ”THE OMEGA GLOBAL INITIATIVE”

SEE MORE ON:

WWW.CBIO.AU.DK